Passenger vehicles commonly control the brakes of a vehicle that is being towed by the passenger vehicle, such as, for example, a trailer, through the use of a trailer brake controller that is generally located within the passenger vehicle. Trailers are commonly equipped, for example, with electronically actuated trailer brakes. A trailer brake controller utilizes a brake input signal in combination with a driver set gain to generate a brake control signal that is transmitted to the electronically actuated trailer brakes, which in turn generate a braking torque on the trailer wheels. Such breaking systems may, for example, translate vehicle input (i.e., from the passenger vehicle), such as brake pedal force or position, brake pressure or vehicle acceleration, into the brake control signal, which is adjustable according to the driver set gain, to brake the trailer.
To allow independent application of the trailer brakes (i.e., without application of the brakes of the passenger vehicle), for example, during an emergency situation such as fishtailing of the trailer, trailer brake controllers also may manually actuate the trailer brakes via a manual brake input signal. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, for example, conventional trailer brake controllers (e.g., controller 1) are generally located within reach of the steering wheel in an instrument panel of the dashboard of the vehicle, and include a manual override switch (e.g., switch 10) that allows the driver to control the trailer brakes independently of the vehicle brakes. Such controllers, therefore, require a driver to keep one hand on the steering wheel of the vehicle, while moving the other hand to the trigger-like mechanism on the controller to manually actuate the trailer brakes. Such action by the driver is not a normal or instinctive reaction to an emergency situation such as fishtailing, to which a driver instinctively keeps both hands on the steering wheel in an effort to overcome the fishtailing event.
In an effort to provide a more rapid and intuitive application of the trailer brakes in such situations (i.e., during emergency situations), various trailer brake controllers have been proposed, which position the controller closer to the steering wheel and/or incorporate, for example, a secondary controller (i.e., that is meant to be used in emergency situations in conjunction with a primary trailer brake controller located in the dashboard) into the rim of the steering wheel itself. Such controllers, however, still require the driver to either remove one hand from the steering wheel to actuate the controller, or present additional complications which may interfere with the trailer's correction.
For example, when a trailer brake controller is incorporated with the rim of a steering wheel and actuated via a force applied to the steering wheel, the trailer brakes may be inadvertently actuated, or inappropriately actuated, when the driver grips the steering wheel. As above, during an emergency situation such as fishtailing, a driver will generally instinctively keep both hands on the steering wheel in an effort to overcome the fishtailing, and while doing so will generally also grip the steering wheel in a more forceful manner. If the trailer brakes may be actuated by such instinctive gripping, the brakes may be misapplied, which may not only delay correction of the fishtailing but make the situation worse.
It may, therefore, be advantageous to provide trailer brake controllers, systems, and methods that do not require a driver to remove a hand from the steering wheel to manually actuate the controller. It may be further advantageous to provide a trailer brake controller that is ergonomically located within a fingers reach of the steering wheel to provide rapid, intuitive, and accurate application of a trailer's brakes, without interfering with the driver's normal use of the steering wheel.